-Welcome back to the show. -Hi.
-You look gorgeous. -Thank you.
-Thank you for coming back. -Thank you for having me.
Thank you for having me on the show
for the past seven years
when I know we're on that other network,
but you still support our show. -We love you. We love you.
-It makes me so happy to be here.
-It's a great show, but how do you feel?
It's ending. Is it bittersweet?
-It is a little bit bittersweet because I love the people
that I work with on the show so much,
but it feels like we're going out at the right time.
It feels like we've had all year to say goodbye, and we end good.
-Really? -Yeeeeeeah.
-Really? -Yeeeeeeeeeah.
-Really? -Yeeeeeeah.
-Wow! -It's good.
-Was everyone sad on the set?
-Yeah, our last day,
we shot until 3:00 in the morning, the very last scene.
Even my parents were there till 3:00 in the morning.
The whole cast, all the writers.
Everybody came to be together, so we ended as a family.
-Did you take anything as a memento?
-Are you trying to get me in trouble?
[ Laughter ]
-You don't have to, just blink if you did.
Yes, there you go. Oh, yeah. -Maybe one or two Prada purses.
You know the big Pradas from the seasons when I was pregnant?
We had to hide my belly behind the Pradas?
-Oh, yeah. I remember that.
-Those might be missing.
[ Laughter ]
-But I heard that some -- some props
from the set are going to go to the Smithsonian?
-Yes. I didn't have my full choice
of what to take because the Smithsonian came to collect.
I was like "Are we history?"
That's so cool. -Isn't that amazing?
-It's going to be weird to break into the Smithsonian
to steal more stuff.
-Exactly, just get trickier and trickier, yeah.
-Now they'll have this tape to use as evidence.
-I like your wrap gift that you gave to the cast.
If you don't mind, I'd love to talk to you about that
because I think it's so thoughtful and cool.
-So, I was really worried that the last couple of weeks
would be like super weepy, that everybody would be sad.
And so I created this post-"Scandal" survival kit
that was full of all the things we haven't been able to do
because we work 16-hour days.
So every crew member got, like, a bouquet flowers
sent to their house and, like,
fancy cleaning supplies from Meyer's
and then, the very last day,
everybody got these really cool sleep trackers
from Sleep Tomorrow.
They help you get a better night's sleep.
And I said one lucky crew member was going to win a mattress,
and... [ Chuckles ]
...everybody got a mattress. -Yeah!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪♪♪
-You get a mattress! You get a mattress!
You get a mattress! -You get a mattress!
It's an "Oprah" moment. -I was Oprah!
-You get a mattress! You get a mattress!
-Oh, it was so exciting.
They picked the little paper out of a bowl,
and the paper said "Everyone"!
And I was like, "Yeah!" -You get a mattress!
Check under your seats. -Everybody's gonna sleep!
-Everyone has a mattress! -It was so fun.
-I love that. -And they were like,
"Where are our cars?" -Yeah. I didn't get you a car.
The mattress, that was much better.
They use that more. But you got to direct.
-I did. I did. I got to direct this year,
which was so great because I got to take on
a whole new role on the show. It was really fun to do.
-Now you're on the other side of the camera.
Do you see, like, different things?
It's a totally different beast. -You know, so we've had a lot
of people on the show are fancy hyphenates.
Like Tony Goldwyn acts and directs,
and Scott Foley, and our DP, Oliver Bokelberg.
They've all done more than one job,
and I was like, "It's time for the ladies to step up."
[ Cheers and applause ] -Right? Right?
So Darby Stanchfield, who plays Abby --
Darby directed this year, and I did, too.
And also Joe Morton, Papa Pope. That was weird.
'Cause he had to, like, tell me what to do, and I had to listen.
Like on the show, I don't usually listen to him,
but when he's directing, I had to listen.
-Yeah. Exactly, yeah. Was everyone good to you?
Were they behaving? -Yeah, I was worried.
'Cause, you know, when Tony directs,
I'm notoriously -- I'm bad to him.
I'm really mean to him. I tease him a lot.
I never take his direction. -It's fun. Why not?
-Yeah, you got to give him crap. -You got to have fun, yeah.
-But then when I was directing, I was like "Oh, no."
-"They're gonna get me back." -But he was --
he was mean to me for like a half a second,
and then he was really sweet and supportive.
-I'm excited for you. What's going to be next?
Are you gonna take a little time off?
No. -No.
-Of course not. -I am producing.
-Really? -Yeah, I have a series
on Facebook called "Five Points" that will air this spring,
and I'm doing a pilot right now and I have
lots of, like, shows and films in the works.
-Do you like producing? -I love producing.
-Really? -It's like being
the Olivia Pope on set.
Like you're the fixer.
You get to solve problems.
-That's all you do, though.
If there's a problem, they go to the producer.
-It's so exciting. When we run out of money,
I'm like, "Were's my white hat?" I'm so excited to fix it.
I love it. -Just get right in there.
What else? Are you doing some -- You have the makeup?
-I do. So I work with Neutrogena.
I'm very proud to be a creative consultant for Neutrogena,
which means I'm, like, in the lab testing colors
and doing research -- -For real though?
-No, really I do. -You go to the lab?
-I do. I mean, I have
a super-cute lab coat. [ Laughter ]
And, like, my goggles might be bedazzled,
but I'm in the lab.
-You have a tailored lab coat.
It's, like, fitting and slimming?
-Exactly. Of course. A little belt.
But I do. I work really hard on it.
And I just designed some Essential palettes for Ulta
with Neutrogena. It's, like, the Kerry Washington Essentials.
They're super cute.
I'll give you one if you're nice to me.
-I'm so nice to you, please. Please.
I love you so much. -I love you.
-Every time you come on, we always play
and we have so much fun.
So you have tomorrow night's "Scandal,"
and then next Thursday -- -Don't miss the last two.
We're going out strong. -Really?
-Yeah, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll scream,
you'll be happy, you'll be sad.
[ Laughter ]
It's a bit of a roller coaster.
-And you'll be live tweeting, as you always do?
-Of course, of course.
The whole cast is getting together for our finale.
We're all getting together. We're actually doing
a live reading of the final episode
to benefit The Actors Fund, but we'll also be tweeting together.
It will be pretty epic. -You got the ice cream, right?
-Oh, my gosh! Our last finale,
you sent us your ice cream flavor,
and we all binged on it.
-Yeah, you guys are all together.
It's like a sleep over. -It's so great.
It was so sweet. It's really good!
-Yeah, it's good, right? -It's really good.